Furniture lift



Dec. 4, 1962 S. R. GILLPATRICK FURNITURE'LIFT Filed July 19, 1961 gg ,24 l 27 INVENTOR. f? SHERMAN R.G|L\ PATR1|CK /3 zo /41 /2 BY www ATTORNEY .Patented Elec. 4, 1962 3,ti-56,967 FUPJTURE LEFT Sherman Gilipatriek, Riverview iRoute, Riverton, Wyo. Filed July i9, wel, Ser. No. 125,252 d Slaims. (El. 29e-16) This invention relates to what might be termed an attachment for carrying articles of furniture. Large pieces of furniture such as over-stuffed davenports, sofas, and the like are exceedingly difficult to pick up and carry. On such pieces, it is exceedingly ditiicult to iind satisfactory hand holds for carrying the pieces and for turning them to the various angles necessary to enable them to pass through doorways, stairways and the like. The limited space between these large pieces and the doorways makes it impossible for the handler to position his hands on the sides of the piece without damaging the hands.

The principal object of this invention is to provide simple, highly efcient, and easily applied carrying lifts or attachments which can be quickly attached to and detached from a piece of furniture to provide convenient outwardly projecting handles at both extremities of the piece so that it may be easily carried and turned for passage through doorways without damage to the hands, the doorway, or the furniture Another object of the invention is to provide a furniture carrying7 attachment which can be quickly applied to any desired piece of furniture regardless of the size or shape or the piece and toso design the attachment that it will automatically engage the piece without damage to the latter to provide three hand `grips at each extremity o the piece of the furniture so arranged, relative to each other, that the furniture may be carried in an upright position, an inclined position, a side position or a completely inverted position.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and etliciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

in the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and tiroughout the description.

in the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the im roved furniture carrying attachment looking toward the inner side thereof;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary, broken away, longitudinal section taken on the line 2 2, FIG. l;

Pif'. 3 is a reduced scale side elevational view showing the improved furniture carrying attachment as it would appear applied to one end or a piece of furniture such as a davenport lil having conventional legs 1l. A similar attachment is applied to the opposite end as shown in broken line; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary end view of the attachment illustrating how a castor wheel may be applied thereto.

Each of the furniture carrying attachments of this invention employs a telescoping base member consisting of a first base tube i2 and a second base tube i3. 'Ihe base tubes are `formed from and are telescopically tted together by means of a connecting bar 14, of square cross section, permanently fitted into and projecting from one extremity of the rst base tube 12 and slidably entering the adjacent extremity of the second base tube 13 into contact with a compression spring l5. The bar 14 is preferably provided with an enlargement or terminal collar i6 secured in place in any desired manner such as through the medium of an attachment rivet 17. A square cap 1S is iitted over the extremity of the second base tube 13 and secured in place thereon in any desired manner such as by means of a set screw 19. The cap is provided with a square guide opening through which the bar ld slides and the collar i6 and the cap i3 act to prevent the bar ltd from being completely withdrawn from the tube 13. The bar idcan be locked in any desired position in the second base tube i3 by means of a third hand set screw 2d.

A preferably square cross tube 2l is weided or otherwise xed mounted across the other extremity of the iirst base tube in T-shaped relation thereto, and a similar cross tube 22 is similarly welded across the other extremity of the second base tube l5. The outer extremities of the cross tubes 2l and 22 are respectively provided with convenient, resilient hand grips 23 and 24. ri'he hand grips may be of the conventional rubber, bicyclehandle-type grips forced over the outer extremities of the cross tubes and are preferably cemented in piace thereon.

Square extension rods 25 and 26 are siidably fitted into and project from the inner extremities of the cross tubes 2l and 22 respectively. The extension rods can be locked at any desired projected position in the cross tubes 2l and 22 by means of suitable hand set screws 27 and 23, respectively. A stud 2@ is mounted in and projects outwardly from the extremity of the extensive rod 21 and a similar stud Sti projects oppositely outward from the extremity of the plunger rod 26. The studs 29 and 3@ are surrounded by lengths of rubber tubing or other protective sleeves 29 and Tdi, respectively.

A riser tube 33 is welded to and arises vertically from the first extremity of the tube l2 to receive a telescopically-titted clamping bar 34. A second compression spring 35 constantly urges the clamping bar 3d upwardly and the latter can be locked in any desired vertical position by means of a fourth hand set screw 36. To prevent complete withdrawal of the clamping bar, it is preferably provided with a stop collar 3'7 which prevents complete withdrawal of the bar through a tube cap 38 xedly mounted on the upper extremity of the riser tube 33. The upper extremity of the clamping oar 3d is turned at right angles to the axis of the bar to form a horizontal clamping arm 39 which is also surrounded. by a resilient protective sleeve 3S.

A vertical handle tube di is welded or otherwise iixedly mounted at the outer extremity of the second base tube i3. The upper extremity of the handle tube di is turned at right angles to the axis of the tube to provide a handle arm i2 over which a third resilient hand grip 43 of the bicycle-handle-type is fitted.

in use, the fourth set screw 36 is loosened and the clamping arm is rotated and set in the plane of the base tubes as indicated at 39 in FIG. 3. The third set screw 2t? is loosened and the hand grips 23 and 2d are gripped in the two hands. The latter hand grips are now forced toward each other, against the bias of the spring l5, so that the two studs 29 and 3d can be passed beneath the davenport i@ between the legs il at one end of the piece. rl`he hand grips are now released allowing the spring l5 to force the cross tubes 21 and 22 outwardly against the legs Lit after which the set screw 2d is tightened to maintain the base tubes in the expanded position with the studs 29 and 3i) engaged behind the legs ll. The set screw 3o is now loosened to allow the spring 35 to force the clamping arm 39 upwardly, the clamping arm is swung inwardly over the arm of the davenport fdl and is then forced downwardly into snug engagement with the arm where it is looked by means of the fourth set screw 36 as shown in FG. 3. A similar furniture carrying attachment is applied to the other extremity of the davenport 1t?, as indi-:ated in broken line in FG. 3.

It will now be noted that each extremity of the piece f furniture is provided with three projecting hand grips. rthus, ir a man at each end of the davenport gripped the hand grips 23 and 2a at that end they can conveniently carry the piece in the upright position of Pi. 3. if they change their hands to grip the hand grips 43 and 245, they can readily carry the furniture in a sideward position, or it they change their hands to grip either one of the hand grips 23 or 2d and the hand `grip d3, they can carry the piece in a diagonal position for convenient passage through a doorway.

To remove the attachment it is only necessary to loosen the third set screw 36 allowing the spring 35 to lift the clamping arm from the arm of the piece of furniture. The clamping arm is then rotated to a sideward position as indicated in broken line at 39 in FiG. 3 and the set screw Zit is loosened so that by pressing the two hand grips 23 and 2d toward each other the studs 2.9 and 3G' Will be released from the legs 1i allowing the attachment to be withdrawn.

For one man use a wheel such as a castor wheel may be attached to the cross tubes 2 and 22 of one or both of the attachments in any desired manner such as by means of U-bolts t5 as shown in PFG. 4. ri`he wheel is positioned outwardly from the base tubes 12 and 13 adjacent to or below the hand grips 23 and 24.

With the wheels d in place and with the attachments in place on a piece of furniture such as a davenport, a single man can lift one extremity of the davenport by means of the hand grips 23 and 24 of one attachment so that the Wheels 44 of the other attachment will engage the iioor. He can then push or pull the piece of furniture Without assistance at the other attachment.

While a specic form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. An attachment for carrying a piece of furniture provided with legs comprising: a horizontal, iongitudinally-extendable base bar; a cross bar `fixed on each extremity of said base bar in T-shaped relation therewith so that when said base bar is extended said cross bar will come in contact at their inner extremities with the inside faces of two of said legs; a stud projecting outwardly rom each inner extremity of said cross bars in axial alignment with each other so as to hook behind said legs; a hand grip on the outer extremity of each cross bar; a vertical riser tube mounted on said base bar and extending upwardly intermediate said cross hars; a clamp ing bar mounted in and extending upwardly from said riser tube; a horizontal clamping arm formed on and projecting horizontally inward from said clamping bar over said piece of furniture; and means on said riser tube for locking said clamping arm in engagement with said piet-e to maintain said base bar in piace thereon.

2. An attachment for carrying a piece of furniture as described in claim 1 having: a vertical handle tube formed on and projecting upwardly from one extremity of said base bar and a handle arm projecting horizontally outward from the upper extremity of said handle tube substantially parallel with but in a direction opposite to said clamping arm to provide in combination with said hand grips three outwardly projecting hand engaging means in triangular relation to each other.

3. An attachment for carrying a piece of furniture as described in claim 2 having resilient means tending to constantly increase the length of said base bar.

4. An attachment for carrying a piece of furniture as described in claim 3 having resilient means tending to constantly urge said clamping arm upwardly away from said piece.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 651,437 Hebert June l2, 1900 755,044 Raeld Mar. 22, 1904 765,674 Normandin July 26, 1904 1,374,372 Freund Apr. 12, 1921 2,178,738 Chenette Nov. 7, 1939 2,274,918 Chenette Mar. 3, 1942 

